Google sold more Pixel smartphones in 2017 than in 2016 but it’s still not enough

In the global market, the numbers aren’t at all impressive. But it does show steady growth for the company.

3.9 million phones may be double the volume of smartphones shipped in 2016, however, it’s worth noting that Google only announced it’s Pixel smartphone line up near the end of the year. That means that in the period of 3-4 months, it managed to sell around 2 million smartphones. The jump in numbers, albeit even less impressive now, is due to the fact that they discounted the original Pixel smartphones and launched the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL as well.

One could say that that it isn’t so bad for a new line up, especially when you compare it to Essential’s numbers which are just under 90,000 units sold in, more or less, the same amount of time. This is probably due to the fact that Google’s smartphones are available in more countries than Essential. For instance, we’re yet to see the Essential phones launched in India. Whereas, Google Pixel phones are sold around the world in countries like Australia, Germany, Spain, India and Puerto Rico among others.

The Apple iPhone, Google Pixel 2’s natural competitor, sold 77.3 million iPhones in just the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2017. Impressed? Well, keep in mind that these numbers are actually down in comparison to Q4 2016. Again, pitting the two against each other is a little futile because Apple’s distribution network is way bigger.

Even Nokia, owned by HMD Global, managed to sell 4.4 million smartphones in Q4 2017. Its rebound into the smartphone market is commendable since that’s more sales in Q4 than Pixel’s sales for the whole year.

Either way, Google isn’t going anywhere without a fight. Having spent a gargantuan $1.1 billion to acquire a special team of engineers from HTC, they’re very serious about pitting their pure Android devices against the iPhone and other competitors. Hopefully, the coming quarter will finally bring their efforts to fruition.